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 Channel Futures

RMM/PSA


MSPs might have some tough decisions in the PSA market in 2015

3 RMM-Agnostic PSA Tools for Managed Service Providers

  • Written by CJ Arlotta
  • November 3, 2014
MSPs looking for new RMM-agnostic vendors will have more choices in 2015. Here's who they can look at.

ConnectWise and Autotask have clearly enjoyed a first movers’ advantage in the managed services market for professional services automation. And maybe they haven’t felt much external pressure to innovate or differentiate. But the market seems to be heating up with some new players, now.

If you haven’t had the chance to attend a any channel conferences this year, do yourself a favor: plan on blocking out some time to get out on the road next year. There are PSA vendors out there asking for your business, and you might be surprised by what they can offer you and your customers.

And what you should also know is remote monitoring and management (RMM) tools will continue to play a big role in this space. ConnectWise and Autotask have each added a RMM player into their respective portfolios, which may be a concern for some MSPs. Will these top PSA vendors push MSP partners to switch RMM vendors?

If that’s a concern, here are a few RMM-agnostic PSA tools that MSPs may want to take into consideration.

TigerPaw Software

Besides Autotask and Connectwise, TigerPaw Software, a Bellevue, Nebraska-based PSA company, has also been a popular choice. Tigerpaw’s RMM strategy involves working with existing vendors in the space, not competing with them, said James Foxall, CEO of TigerPaw, in a September interview with MSPmentor.

“While the relationship was publicly touted as benign, it wasn’t long before Connectwise aggressively targeted all of their clients to move them to Labtech from their existing RMM solution,” Foxall said in our conversation with him. “I would expect to see the exact same strategy from Autotask. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.”

The company showcased its new mobile customer relationship management (CRM) offering at the Tigerpaw Partner Conference in Chicago in August.

Vorex

Vorex has been out demoing its new MSP module to the channel since September. Its module includes features such as billing, integrated customer relationship management (CRM), ticketing and contracts. MSPmentor first introduced the Dallas-based PSA platform provider to the channel earlier in the year.

“We have been hearing some really great things from the industry,” said Stuart Selbst, COO at Vorex, in an interview with MSPmentor at ASCII Atlantic City 2014. “One of the people I spoke to said it is good to see a company have a PSA product that we can use right away. Many have said to me that the industry needs a product like Vorex PSA.”

AffinityLive

Another upcoming PSA tool called AffinityLive has also been in the PSA space for a while, since 2011. It began targeting the channel, however, a few months ago. Led by Geoff McQueen, the company’s CEO, the San Francisco-based company has attended almost every channel-focused show these past few months.

“We found that we were starting to get pulled into the MSP space,” McQueen said in an interview with MSPmentor. According to him, the company jumped into the channel when MSPs began asking questions about integrations with RMM tools.

One ASCII Atlantic City 2014 attendee told MSPmentor that he won’t be jumping ship from one of the top vendors immediately, mainly because he has a lot of money already invested with the company. He added that even though this is a concern of his, it won’t prevent him from switching over to a new PSA solution if it can resolve all of his issues.

Follow CJ Arlotta on Twitter @cjarlotta and Google+ for further updates on the story above — or if you just want to say hello.

Tags: MSPs RMM/PSA

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7 comments

  1. Avatar Maayan Porat November 4, 2014 @ 8:24 am
    Reply

    Thanks CJ,
    It seems like our

    Thanks CJ,

    It seems like our solution, CommitCRM, should join that list:

    A few facts:

    1. CommitCRM is a powerful PSA system that was first introduced back in 2003!

    2. CommitCRM integrates with different RMM systems such as Continuum and GFI MAX.

    3. CommitCRM is used successfully by thousands of IT professionals and managed service providers.

    Cheers,

    Maayan Porat
    CEO
    http://www.CommitCRM.com

  2. Avatar Jim Barnet November 4, 2014 @ 3:38 pm
    Reply

    Hi CJ:
    I think this line from

    Hi CJ:

    I think this line from your article “And maybe they haven’t felt much external pressure to innovate or differentiate”, really speaks to the opportunity in the PSA market.

    Being able to access all PSA functionality from any device to improve internal collaboration and customer service, being able to selectively expose any data in the PSA via the Customer Portal so customers can answer their own questions 24/7, as well as being able to easily exchange data with the customer’s business applications, these are some of the truly “disruptive” capabilities that some of the lesser known PSA’s are going to be bringing to the table.

    Nothing really “new” has happened in the PSA market for 10 years. Our take is that’s going to change significantly in 2015.

    Regards, Jim Barnet
    Director Sales & Marketing, PROMYS PSA
    http://www.promys.com

    • Avatar christopherarlotta November 5, 2014 @ 1:37 pm
      Reply

      Jim:
      Thanks for responding to

      Jim:

      Thanks for responding to the article and sharing your product. Could you tell our readers a little bit more about how you work with MSPs?

      Thanks, Jim.

      —CJ

  3. Avatar Anonymous November 4, 2014 @ 6:04 pm
    Reply

    Excuse my cynicism but who
    Excuse my cynicism but who paid you to write this one? If you think Autotask and ConnectWise aren’t innovating, you haven’t been paying attention. Arnie has been helping MSPs succeed for years with a concrete solution that keeps getting better and Autotask has been releasing new features almost quarterly for the last 5 years.

    • Avatar christopherarlotta November 5, 2014 @ 6:07 pm
      Reply

      Anonymous:
      Thanks for reading

      Anonymous:

      Thanks for reading and sharing your insight.

      To answer your question: Nobody paid me to write this article. I stated that “maybe they haven’t felt much external pressure to innovate or differentiate.” I never said they haven’t been innovating.

      Additional companies in this space could drive innovation in a new direction for MSPs.

      —CJ

  4. Avatar Jim Barnet November 5, 2014 @ 3:35 pm
    Reply

    Hi CJ:
    A couple years ago

    Hi CJ:

    A couple years ago PROMYS did a “Fast Chat” video on MSPMentor highlighting some of the key capabilities that the PROMYS Enterprise PSA brings to the table for MSP’s.

    In short, PROMYS customers are bigger and have more complexity and subsequently their needs are not adequately met by the legacy ticket based PSA alternatives.

    PROMYS customers tend to have multiple locations, multiple lines of business (almost all PROMYS customers have Managed Services as one of their LOB’s), specialized resources and their customers and projects tend to be bigger as well.

    There are hundreds of key functionality differences that have evolved over eleven years of working with that particular “ideal customer profile”, but we’ll be doing another Fast Chat video soon, in conjunction with the release of the HTML5 device and browser independent version of our Enterprise PSA towards the end of this year, that will highlight some of the key differences.

    We look forward to continuing to work with the folks at MSPMentor to keep MSP’s abreast of some of the more interesting changes to the landscape of the PSA marketplace.

    Regards, Jim Barnet
    Director Sales & Marketing, PROMYS PSA
    http://www.promys.com

  5. Avatar cath.powell@teamdatalogic.com November 10, 2014 @ 2:19 pm
    Reply

    Hi CJ,
    The list gets longer!

    Hi CJ,

    The list gets longer! HarmonyPSA is also RMM-independant. HarmonyPSA includes a fully-featured CRM, fully integrated and configurable ticketing connecting the entire company workflow into the core platform, integrated time recording and billing as well as all the other PSA functionality you would expect; automated quotes and orders, contract management, asset management, PO management, customer portal, project management and scheduling. Although UK based, we fully support US sales tax and Quickbooks as a back-end.

    Harmony has been designed on the basis that it will streamline business processes by bringing everything together in one place. Unusually for a PSA, we have also incorporated key accounting functionality that goes far beyond the simple production of invoices. Because Harmony has a journal interface to the ledger, not a document one, it allows control of deferred revenue and other balance sheet bookings from within the business context simplifying ledger activities and reducing manual work. For this reason we are a tool suited to slightly larger (10+) MSPs.

    Its an exciting time in the world of PSA as the market is reshaped by new innovation and new entrants the winners are sure to be the MSPs who get a greater choice of better products!

    Catherine Powell
    Marketing Manager
    http://www.harmonypsa.com/

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